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Sweden is moving away from criminal rehabilitation in favour of US-style mass incarceration, experts have said, as the country prepares to rent places in Estonian jails to help house its rapidly expanding prison population.
The move to outsource prison places is one of a slew of policies aimed at transforming the Swedish criminal justice system as the centre-right government struggles to tackle gang violence and prisons warn of overcrowding.
Last week the justice department said it had instructed Kriminalvården (the Swedish prison and probation service) to “make the necessary preparations” for the Estonian scheme.
Under an agreement signed by Stockholm and Tallinn in June, up to 600 prison places in the Baltic country are expected to be made available.
According to a recent Kriminalvården report, Sweden’s prison population could – in the most extreme scenario – grow from 7,800 this year to 41,000 in 2034 as a result of more punitive policies driven by the far right.
Observers say it represents a marked shift for a country which for decades prided itself on prison policies focused on rehabilitation and reintegration.
Sweden is not set up to cope with a rise in the numbers being sentenced to jail time as the government grapples with an unprecedented wave of violence brought about by gang crime.
The prison service chief of staff, Joakim Righammar, has said Sweden’s prisons are in a “crisis situation” of overcrowding.
The number of children facing lengthy periods in prison is particularly striking: in recent years, a change in approach has led to children as young as 15 being jailed for 10 years or more.
The government, which depends on the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats, is now considering a proposal to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 14 for severe offences.
The main opposition party, the centre-left Social Democrats, have said they would support such a move. The Sweden Democrats have called for the age to be lowered to 13.
For the first time, next year, the government also plans to introduce youth prisons in place of the current secure youth care homes, where young offenders are usually placed and the maximum sentence is four years.
The justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, said the deal with Estonia marked “an important step to relieve the Swedish prison and probation service” from a “pressured situation”.
He added: “For it to work in practice, careful preparations are required. It is crucial that everything from security and legal certainty to cooperation with Estonian authorities are ready to function properly when the agreement comes into force.”
Source and text – The Guardian
Photo – Jeppe Gustafsson/Shutterstock
